When the man saw the small entourage of knights following the man with Devil-coloured hair, he knew that he must have ed up somehow. He had run into his cabin and locked the door behind him, heart stuttering and his chest heaving up and down in fear.

The locked door didn’t do much--it had been kicked down all the same, quite easily in fact. In swarmed the Devil-man and his entourage. The Devil-man stepped forward, another one of his men stepping forward too with him. The man, in his fear, concluded it was probably the equally-feared second-in-command in the Devil-man’s troop.

It was then the man decided perhaps it was time to beg if he really wanted to live.

A flame lit lazily in the centre of the rug that sat on the far-left side of the cabin. It hungrily at the wood of the cabin and a foul-smelling scent began to fill the cabin. It was as he had feared and heard—that the Devil-man always left a trail of fire and carnage after his wake.

"Please!" the man threw himself at his feet, deciding that it didn’t hurt to beg for his life.

He had a wife and daughter—who were thankfully out in the market for some groceries—and to leave them behind would leave the two of them destitute and with no means to support themselves. He often toiled away in the dry, almost-barren fields outside of their cabin.

Some years the yield was good, some years it was horrible. He was certain it was going to be a decent crop yield this year.

"Please forgive me! I swear I will never do this again. Please! Please! Please!" He got on his knees, rubbing his hands together and bowed frantically. "Please!"

Sunggyu kept his permanent scowl on his face, nonplussed by the man who was begging on the floor. Sunggyu stood there in the man's little abode, looking every bit regal and lethal. His eyes were narrowed at his target, who was writhing and looking every bit pathetic. His second-in-command, Myungsoo, one of his distantly-related cousins stood by him, ever stoic.

Myungsoo was known as the angel of death—for he had a very pretty face and a very dark and ominous presence that accompanied it. He was every bit as ruthless as Sunggyu, although he was not as feared. Sunggyu attributed it to the fact that Myungsoo appeared relatively normal with his dark, brown hair and dark brown eyes.

This one mortal had 'wrongly' accused the King of Everlasting of being a selfish, pig-headed ruler that only cared for acquiring riches for himself. Sunggyu was sad to say that the man was not wrong.

He was just wrong in being found out--or rather, speaking so brazenly out in public and had gotten himself reported by a neighbour. Sunggyu was unsure of the motives of the neighbour for reporting him, but one look at the field across from the cabin that was the neighbour’s told him all that he needed to know. The field was close to barren and the neighbour needed some extra money to make sure they lived through the coming winter.

Sunggyu glanced to the man in front of him, feeling pity. But he had to pretend he felt nothing, because he was sure that those that he commanded wouldn’t hesitate to report him and to strip him of his title. Most of them were disgruntled that they had to work under a half-breed. Myungsoo was an exception; or at least, it seemed like it anyway.

Sunggyu had come too far along to show mercy. He had worked from the bottom of the food chain to close enough to the top that he was satisfied with where he was in life. When he had first come to the clan compound to live with his clan, he had been at the bottom and was treated like a servant because of his mortal half. He had proved himself with being a person worthy of respect and fear within the clan and eventually worked his way into the Royal Guards, who personally protected the royal family. What was not widely known was that they also were the eyes, ears, and arms of the royal family and did their every bidding. Including getting rid of those who opposed of the royal family.

If only the man had not been unlucky so to speak, he would have lived longer.

No matter, anyway. Sunggyu wanted to deal with this, so he could go on with his other duties. He never liked doing the dirty work for the king but that was his life. If he decided to leave the clan in the future, he would not be allowed to unless he forfeited his life. So, to live and to live with some sort of fear and respect for him, he chose to live like this.

The mortal before him did lead a very proper life (in the eyes of the royal family, anyway, which wasn’t really saying much), save for one of the final speeches he had in his drunken stupor the previous night at a public bonfire.

"I shouldn't have done it," the man cried, tears in his eyes. There was pure terror in his eyes. "It was a mistake." Sunggyu was sure he was going to wet himself. He almost sneered. He didn't think he was that terrifying. "I was drinking! I will never do it again." He grabbed onto Sunggyu's legs, and Sunggyu almost immediately kicked him off, making sure to put distance between him and the mortal man who looked like a gigantic mess. Snot and tears were dribbling down his face. He looked pathetic.

Sunggyu brushed his pants where the mortal touched him in a very dismissing manner. He relaxed again, making the mortal man shudder in fear. It was never a good sign when the man was very relaxed. He was always angry from what he had heard. To see him relaxed meant that he was very angry. The last time he had witnessed the Devil-man smile was right before he decapitated someone.

The mortal man gulped. Perhaps he shouldn't have touched him--he was ready to beg if he needed to.

"You won't or you can't after this," Sunggyu said monotonously, "because there's a difference." The man immediately crawled forward in his desperation. He was about to reach out for Sunggyu's foot when he stopped midair. He thought better of it when Sunggyu raised his eyebrow at him, almost mocking him to just try and see what would happen. The mortal man choked back a sob.

"I can't!"

Sunggyu's face contorted into something akin to annoyance and the man realized that he had answered wrong.

"Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!" he frantically screamed as fire danced its way towards him and he frantically crawled backwards and away. "I meant that I won't! I won't! I won't!"

The fire ceased and the man shuddered, "I'm sorry, please. I'm a good person. I'm a nice guy. I don't deserve to go to Hell." He was repeating it over and over to himself in a mantra, almost as if he were praying.

Sunggyu absentmindedly conjured fire in the palm of his hands, noting that the man before him had widened his eyes in horror.

"W-What are you?" the man stuttered, finally realizing that it seemed like fire was heeding the commands of the red-haired man before him. Sunggyu decided it was not befitting for him to reply at all.

"Please. I don't deserve this." The man appeared to be lobbying to him but Sunggyu could not care less. His opinion would not be swayed. He was here by orders given by the king and he only answered to the king.

"I see. You don't deserve this?" Sunggyu repeated, his voice laced with emotions. The man could not manage to discern any of the emotions and decided to assume that they were emotions that would tip the balance in favour of him living.

He eagerly nodded, mustering the very little energy he had left to stand up on his legs shakily. He bowed low, "I will not forget your kindness." Sunggyu scoffed. The man thought he was off the hook. How cute.

A ring of fire immediately surrounded the man, at his clothes and skin hungrily. The man fell to his knees in shock, unable to stand up. Sunggyu made sure he didn't burn too badly--he didn't really like inflicting harm on other people using his fire because in fire he found peace but orders were orders. But it didn't stop the man from screaming and crying again.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please! I will do anything. Please! Forgive me!"

The fire inferno stopped. The man didn't appear to be too injured. He was sporting a small burn on his upper right arm and was covered in sweat, tears, and soot.

Sunggyu sneered, "You shouldn't even be asking for forgiveness from me. I'm not the one that you've wronged." A distant look appeared on his face. "Your fate had been decided the second you uttered those words out of your mouth." He gave a dismissive little flick of his hand.

"Spare me! Please!" the man cried, he reached out for Sunggyu's foot with his other hand supporting his weight but Sunggyu's left foot stopped him, stepping on the hand that was reaching out for him. Sunggyu made sure to apply pressure onto the hand with the hell of his shoes, making the man scream out in pain. A grotesque smirk made its way onto Sunggyu's face.

"Do not touch me."

The man was sobbing so hard that Sunggyu could not make out any coherent sentences from him. Not that he cared, anyway. It would not change the man's fate. It was either his head or his own. Sunggyu was not able to outrun or face off his father, or any of the other main branch clan members.

He would make sure that it was painless. That, at least, was the least he could do.

With a snap of his finger, the man was incinerated into ashes and put out of misery. He quickly wiped out the fire that was at the cabin walls. Myungsoo appeared unfazed, watching with his solemn eyes.

"Myungsoo."

It was right down to business, something Sunggyu appreciated. "Yes, sir?"

He was perhaps one of the only ones in the clan that gave him respect, something that Sunggyu didn't know how to feel about. No matter about that, he had other things to think about.

"Is there anything else after this?" Sunggyu gritted his teeth. The one thing that he liked in particular about Myungsoo was that he was a man of few words and he understood quickly without elaboration.

He always did the dirty work for the king--those that was deemed too important for the secret faction to carry out. Those in the secret faction were the vampires of the main branch of the clan. He and the distant branch clan members were part of the publicly known faction that were known as elite guards for the royal family. It was just a name to cover up for the dirty work they did. They were the eyes, ears, and hands of the king. They killed anyone that opposed of their rule. He supposed that they were elite guards--the ones guarding the kingdom's unjust ruler from being overthrown. The civilians did not know the true nature of the faction, but there were suspicions. However, Sunggyu himself was known for his mean streak and the fear he instilled in anyone that crossed paths with him, even for something as innocent as walking past or near him.

Sunggyu just didn't understand how such a proud clan would even come about to serving an idiotic king who did not know how to rule justly or control the civilians so that there would be no talks of rebellion. Sunggyu was sure that his scheming father was planning something regarding taking over the kingdom. He was very sure of it. However, he was one that just followed orders so it didn't matter to him. He wasn't heir to clan head anyway.

Myungsoo shook his head, "I believe that you are done for today."

"Good."

Sunggyu opened a portal hole and stepped through it, with one place in mind.

When he stepped out of the portal hole and onto the earthy, dirt ground, he was greeted with a familiar sight for sore eyes. The portal door closed behind him. He had been too busy as of late to come by. He didn't like coming too often, however. It reminded him of what little he had to begin with and how he'd lost it anyway.

There was not much left of the wooden house that he used to live in, nor the small village that used to exist around the area. Most of the wood had decayed into nothing more than abandoned piles of wood chips infested with termites that were busily having their way with what was left of the wood. The place where the communal bonfires were frequently held had become nothing more than a grassy meadow full of lush, dark green grass with young trees scattered around in a non-uniform manner. A lot has changed since then.

Absentmindedly, he traced his fingers delicately across the trunk of a tree that was not there many, many years ago, relishing in the fact that he still remembered what the place used to look like. After all, it was a long time ago. He did not even remember how anyone that had lived with him during that time looked like. Even his mother.

He could not remember the name or face of the boy who bullied him often in his childhood. All he could hear was the taunting that sounded melodic and song-like in his head, "Fatherless child that no one wants! Unwanted! No one wants you!"

He wandered along the clearing that had once belonged to a proud village with a population of a hundred, before the village was flooded and then they were forced to relocate, that one year the Gods had rained down on them with torrential rain that didn't stop for months. It was before Sunggyu found out he could control fire. How he wished that things were still as simple as then.

He turned his back on the clearing, deciding that it was time for him to continue on the familiar journey and automatically looked for the remains of a path that used to be well-worn by others that headed in the same direction as him many years ago. Walking along the long-buried path that wound throughout the forest that he memorized as if it were the back of his hands, he came across the lake that he often frequented as a child, many years ago with his mother when she did her laundry. She was no longer around but this place was still around.

Some of the people in the kingdom saw him in that area some days but they nev